Jim Walden (at mic), seen with tenant activists and leaders at a rally in City Hall plaza are seeking an emergency declaration that will push the state to speed up ways to address NYCHA's top problems.

Public housing tenant leaders are asking Albany legislators to step in and declare a state of emergency to speed up an overhaul of NYCHA.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the Assembly and Senate leadership, the Citywide Council of Presidents demanded immediate intervention to address the troubled authority’s top problems.

NYCHA has been battered by accusations of incompetence over failures to perform required lead paint inspections and busted boilers that left 320,000 tenants without heat this winter.

The tenant leaders, represented by attorney Jim Walden, seek an emergency declaration that will allow the state to use an expedited process known as “design build” to pick a private company “to assist with the overhaul of NYCHA’s operations,” the letter states.

NYCHA homes have been riddled with failed lead paint inspections and broken boiler issues that left 320,000 tenants without heat this winter.

(Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News)

“Tenants cannot wait three years for heat and to have toxic lead removed from their apartments,” Walden wrote. “The state can declare an emergency and install an independent contractor to do the work, bypassing NYCHA’s broken bureaucracy.”

The council presidents represent NYCHA tenants across the city. They filed suit Feb. 27 in Manhattan Supreme Court, asking a judge to appoint a monitor to oversee needed management reforms.

NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake said the authority is working with the city and state "as we strive to achieve our NextGen NYCHA goal to provide all residents the safe, clean and connected communities they deserve.”